According to the report, the opinions “could help (Gov.) Haslam avoid legal and political hurdles in implementing his Insure Tennessee plan.” Insure Tennessee, a two-year pilot program, would provide federally subsidized healthcare to an estimated 200,000 residents between the ages of 19 and 64 who are not otherwise eligible for Medicaid, and have family incomes that do not exceed 138 percent of the federal poverty level. It would be fully funded with federal dollars through Dec. 31, 2016, and then, beginning Jan. 1, 2017, when the federal match rate declines, with federal dollars as well as revenues from a state assessment on hospitals.
Although critics have said they fear the state would have to pay for coverage “because they argue it’s illegal to take people off the health care rolls after they’re included,” the new opinion from Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery disagrees, according to the report.
HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell concurred with Mr. Slatery’s opinion, stating in a letter, “Tennessee may take up the Medicaid coverage expansion and later drop it at state option. Further, if Tennessee expands Medicaid coverage and then drops such coverage at a later point, there would be no financial penalty and no reduction to the federal matching dollar rates otherwise available to Tennessee for its Medicaid program.”
A special session of the Tennessee Legislature to discuss Insure Tennessee is set to begin Monday.
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